DEER RIVER — The service workers’ strike at Essentia Health-Deer River entered its 10th day on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The health care organization and the roughly 70 Service Employees International Union members began negotiating a new contract in August.
The union represents a variety of positions at the hospital and nursing home, including licensed practical nurses, cooks and phlebotomists. Essentia Health-Homestead is the only long-term care facility in Deer River.
Unlike the union’s earlier strike in November, the current strike does not have a set end date. While support and technical staff strike, Essentia said it may not be able to admit new hospital patients and surgeries may be relocated or postponed as it prioritizes emergency, clinic and Homestead care.
In a news release shared Wednesday, SEIU called out Essentia management for the lack of bargaining throughout the strike.
“Services remain limited for our communities because of management’s decision to close down portions of the facility during our strike,” said Kayla Schwankl, SEIU organizer and lead bargainer.
“Our group has been ready to get to the table to reach a fair deal, but it seems like management are acting as if the situation is no big deal and like their time off for the holidays is more important than solving this situation.”
In response, Essentia said it told the federal mediator that it is willing to discuss a “serious proposal” that acknowledges the realities of rural health care.
“The union has offered no dates for bargaining and expressed an unwillingness to the mediator to modify its wage proposal in a way that would allow for productive talks,” a statement shared Wednesday afternoon read.
“ ... The union’s unrealistic expectations and its decision to take our colleagues out on strike have caused the disruption to care for our Deer River community.”
Essentia and union members say the two sides are furthest apart on wages.
In an interview with KAXE on Friday, Essentia Health spokesperson Kim Kaiser said Essentia’s latest proposal is a roughly 9% increase over three years. It maintains the union’s current wage grid with increases across the board and increases based on hours worked, an issue the union previously emphasized.
“SEIU’s proposal is calling for a wage increase that equals well over 18% after three years, and it’s interesting that the wage demands in the first year really aren’t consistent among roles and even years of experience within that role,” Kaiser said. “Some of the wage increase demands for that first year range from about 1.3% to 23%.”
Essentia said its offer is consistent with roughly 15 other agreements ratified by Essentia union groups with similar roles.
But on the picket line Friday, union bargaining team member Janelle Denny said Essentia is telling half-truths.
“They’re saying they’re offering us 9%, and on the news, they said that everybody has ratified for that amount around us,” Denny said. “Yeah, that may be true, but the bottom line is they are already at fair wage market. We’re not.”
The union said Deer River is the lowest-paid Essentia facility in Minnesota. Schwankl said current wages are so far below market, it will take 20% to 30% in most positions to arrive at fair wages.
Denny agreed the union’s proposed wage increases do vary across positions but said that just shows how far from fair pay some positions are.
“And to be honest with you, those aren’t even where the others are,” she said. “We actually are down from that even, so I don’t feel like we’re asking too much like they’re saying we are.”
Surgical tech and bargaining team member Sarah Jo Roberts pointed out Essentia will compare the increases offered to Deer River to other facilities that have ratified contracts but will not compare wages.
“That’s not acceptable,” she said. “And it’s very contradictory.”
In a news release shared when the latest Deer River strike began, Essentia said SEIU’s comparisons to other facilities are “incomplete” and include locations “that are far larger and offer more complex care.”
“We regularly evaluate market conditions, and we are confident that our proposals are competitive for the local market,” the news release stated.
But the union says members could work 15 minutes down the road in Grand Rapids and make more money.
“We hear people say, ‘Well if we’re not paying you enough or you don’t like working here, then leave,’” Denny said.
“... We want to leave, but we don’t want to leave because we love our community. They've got an awesome community here; Deer River is awesome. They’ve stood behind us, so we’re really grateful for Deer River itself.”
Throughout negotiations, Essentia has repeatedly highlighted sustainability in rural health care.
“We’re really focused on reaching an agreement that recognizes [union members] important work and is also sustainable for this hospital and this community,” Kaiser said Friday.
“We really have an obligation to our patients and to our community to negotiate a contract that has market-competitive wages and preserves access to the important care that we provide our patients in the Deer River area.”
The health care organization has pointed to low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates as one of the biggest challenges confronting rural care.
Union members said Essentia has called the union’s proposed 18% increase unrealistic but agreed to that amount with the nurses' union.
Another issue highlighted in news releases from the union and Essentia is understaffing.
Denny explained that when she started in the environmental services department five years ago, there were 14 employees. Now the department works with as few as five.
“And they say we will never get that [staff back],” she said.
Roberts said because Deer River is a small, rural facility, employees usually fill multiple roles. In addition to working in the operating room as a surgical tech, she orders supplies, assists in sterile processing and tracks inventory.
“When you compare that to large facilities, they have departments that take care of each and every one of those things,” she said. “So we’re doing multiple roles yet we’re still getting paid less.”
Essentia said claims of understaffing are not true. There are currently one full-time and five part-time openings, the company said. The hospital’s vacancy rate is consistent with the statewide vacancy rate, and the number of patients has remained steady.
The Minnesota Hospital Association’s annual report shows vacancy rates are still significantly higher than they were when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and MHA notes Greater Minnesota is still experiencing heightened workforce challenges.
Kaiser acknowledged vacancies across the state increased after the pandemic, but said the challenge is not unique to Essentia or Deer River.
In its latest proposal, Essentia has included cross-facility cooperation, which gives employees the opportunity to work at other locations and allows workers from other facilities to work in Deer River if patient needs demand it.
The union said this would “undermine longtime union workers in the community,” and Schwankl said it is a non-mandatory subject that shouldn’t be holding up negotiations.
